In space, no one can hear you postulate

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

10/14/09, 9:07 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:59 PM CET

Going boldy where other people have gone before.

Another year, another attempt to get serious about space policy. Europe may be losing the battle for global competitiveness with the emerging economies, and may be falling behind the US in the exploitation of green technologies, but there is always the final frontier.

Starting today, the Commission will play host to a high-level conference on ‘the ambitions of Europe in space’, an event at which, we are informed, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Investment Bank will confirm their “definite commitment” to EU space policy.

At a time when the US is revising downwards its stellar ambitions, in Europe the sky is apparently far from the limit. The conference website informs us that the EU is “from now on” committed to an ambitious policy “with the prospect of space exploration”.

Apparently this exploration will lead to “new opportunities for European enterprises and civil society” – perhaps by building links with economic and social committees on other planets?

The conference also plans to “sensitize” public authorities and businesses, which makes it sound as if some high-tech weaponry may be on display.

Indeed some sensitising may well be required. Despite the high-flying ambitions, the main projects that will be discussed at the conference are Galileo (a navigation system), and GMES (an observation system), both of which are more concerned with Earth than the heavens, and have been far from soaraway successes. Galileo (once described as “stupid” by Günter Verheugen, the European commissioner for enterprise and industry) had to be bailed out by governments after industry failed to step up to the plate, while the timetable for getting GMES up and running has slipped from 2008 to 2011. It’s not easy crossing that final frontier.